Thursday, August 30, 2012

The Space Between Us Megan Hart

The Space Between Us

Megan Hart

Mira, Sep 4 2012, $14.95

ISBN: 9780778313083

Tesla Martin enjoys serving lattes to her loyal regulars at Morningstar Mocha. Though she likes all her customers, her favorite is charismatic Meredith. The woman can charm a story from anyone; for instance Carlos the writer admitted to jerking off to old people porn.

Meredith turns her magnetism on Tesla. Like all the caffeine addicts at Morningstar Mocha, Tesla relates her wild child history, who along with her brother Cap, is the offspring of commune living swingers. Magical Meredith and Tesla begin seeing the town together. Eventually Meredith persuades Tesla to sleep with her husband Charlie while she watches as a Peeping Thomasine. Tesla is attracted to both of the married couple; while Charlie wants both women; and bored Meredith remains a thrill seeking watcher who lives precariously through the lovers.

The Space Between Us is a deep but strange character study that looks closely at the wants and desires of each person in a threesome. Childhood flashbacks enable readers to understand Tesla’s imprint while Charlie’s need for two women is also understandable. However, it is the enigmatic charismatic Meredith who makes the contemporary fresh through her obsessive need for an emotional high from the stories of others. “There are eight million stories in the Naked City…” (Naked City) and Meredith needs to hear every one of them even as she leaves her narrators emotionally nuked.